Can You Make Cookies Out Of Carrots?

Cookies are often regarded as sweet treats to be enjoyed occasionally, but what if there were a way of making cookies out of healthier ingredients?

We all know that we should be eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, but that doesn’t have to mean eating only salads and depriving ourselves of tasty desserts.

Incorporating some vegetables or fruits into desserts or snacks can be an excellent way of maintaining a balanced and unrestrictive diet!

You’ve heard of carrot cake – now get ready for carrot cake cookies! In this article, we’ll be sharing two methods of making cookies out of carrots. One is gluten-free while the other uses regular flour, so there’s something here for all dietary needs.

Is It Possible To Make Cookies Out Of Carrots?

Yes, you can make cookies using carrots! However, bear in mind that carrots will not be the only ingredient in your cookies. You will also be working with flour (either oat flour or regular flour), brown sugar, and other typical baking ingredients you would find in a cookie recipe like baking soda and butter.

With that being said, both of the cookie recipes we’ll be walking you through in this article feature between 1 and 1.5 cups of grated carrot. A serving of grated carrot is 3 ounces, for context.

Carrot Cookie Recipes

Oatmeal Carrot Cookies

If you want to make carrot cookies using regular flour, you will need:

• Oats (1.5 cups)
• All-purpose flour (1 cup)
• Grated carrots (1 cup)
• Baking soda (0.5 tsp)
• Baking powder (0.75 tsp)
• Ground cinnamon (0.5 tsp)
• Ground cloves (0.125 tsp)
• Ground ginger (0.25 tsp)
• Salt (0.5 tsp)
• Packed brown sugar (0.5 cup)
• Granulated sugar (0.25 cup)
• Unsalted butter (0.5 cup)
• Nuts (0.5 cup)
• Egg (1 large)
• Vanilla extract (0.5 tsp)

1. Take a large mixing bowl and combine the oats, baking powder, baking soda, flour, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and ginger.
2. You will now need another, medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk the butter together with the brown sugar and granulated sugar. When you have combined these ingredients, you should also add the egg and the vanilla extract. Whisk again.
3. Put the grated carrots and chopped nuts and stir the mixture to distribute these ingredients throughout.
4. At this point, you will combine the wet mixture with the dry ingredients you prepared earlier.
5. Put a covering over the bowl containing the combined wet and dry ingredients and put it into the refrigerator for about 2 hours to chill.
6. When your cookie mix has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is preheating, line a baking sheet with some greaseproof paper. If you have a reusable baking mat, you can use that instead.
7. Now scoop up 1.5 tablespoons of dough at a time and place each scoop on the baking sheet. Every cookie should have 2 inches of space between it and other cookies so that they don’t stick together as they spread during the baking process.
8. These cookies bake pretty quickly, so you should only need to leave them in the oven for between 8 and 10 minutes. Once they have risen and become a lovely golden brown color, you can leave them to cool down before serving and enjoying.

Gluten-Free Carrot Cookies

If you have an intolerance to gluten, you can also make carrot cookies using oats and flaxseed meal instead of flour. You will need to following ingredients:

• Oats (1 .25 cup)
• Oat flour (1 cup)
• Ground flaxseed meal (2 tbsp)
• Grated carrots (1.5 cups)
• Baking powder (1 tsp)
• Ground cinnamon (1.5 tsp)
• Ground ginger (0.25 tsp)
• Ground nutmeg (0.25 tsp)
• Salt (0.25 tsp)
• Chopped walnuts (0.75 cup)
• Raisins (0.25 cup)
• Honey (0.33 cup)
• Melted coconut oil (0.25 cup)
• Unsweetened applesauce (0.33 cup)
• Vanilla extract (1 tsp)

1. Preheat the oven straight away for this recipe. You will need to set the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You will also need a rimmed baking sheet (ideally, a large one) lined with greaseproof parchment paper. Again, if you use reusable baking sheets or mats instead, this is fine.
2. Using a large bowl for mixing, combine the flaxseed, oats, oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking powder, salt, carrots, walnuts, and raisins. Mix them all together using a wooden spoon or spatula.
3. Now you will need a slightly smaller bowl (medium-size is optimal) and whisk the coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract, and applesauce together. You might find that your coconut oil has re-solidified even if you softened it well beforehand. Don’t worry – just put it in the microwave or heat it over the stove until it softens again.
4. Mix all the wet ingredients together until you have a smooth mixture. Then, fold the wet ingredients into your dry mixture. Be careful not to overmix – just combine until you have a thick, sticky dough that’s still wet to the touch.
5. For each cookie, you will need to scoop up 1/4 cup and transfer each quarter cup onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. When you flatten the cookies, they should measure about 3/4 of an inch in terms of thickness.
6. Bake the cookies for roughly 12 minutes to 14 minutes. The cooking time may vary slightly depending on your oven, so watch the baking process and remove the cookies from the oven once they take on a golden color and feel firm around the edges (they should still feel soft in the middle!)

Final Thoughts

Making soft and chewy cookies out of carrots might sound too good to be true, but you can do it!

Of course, you can’t make cookies out of just carrots, but you can incorporate fairly large quantities of grated carrots into both regular and gluten-free cookie recipes to add a healthy twist to your usual sweet snack. The result is a delicious treat that’s not overly sweet but still satisfies cravings for baked goods!

You can make your carrot cookies more interesting by incorporating an orange glaze or dusting them with powdered sugar.